CROATIAN OMBUDSMAN ISSUES STATEMENT ON PROPERTY RIGHTS

ZAGREB, Oct 1 (Hina) - Ombudsman Ante Klaric issued a statement on Wednesday regarding a decision by the Croatian Constitutional Court to annul the provisions of the Law on the Temporary Takeover and Management of Specific Property which denied the right to persons to use the property which they had left. The Constitutional Court passed the decision on September 25 after having considered requests by the ombudsman and some Serb organisations. The decision entered into force the next day. The Law on the Temporary Takeover and Management of Specific Property was passed on September 21, 1995 soon after the liberation of large areas of Croatia hitherto under Serb occupation. A majority of the population fled those areas, leaving behind most of their property. The law regulated the temporary takeover, use, management and control of that property. In line with that law, special commissions gave the abandoned property to other Croatian citizens -- displaced persons and refugees, and returnees whose property had been destroyed -- to use it. With the decision of the Constitutional Court in effect, the owner of the property which is now under the management of the state can use it freely regardless of when he returned to Croatia and when he requested restitution of his property, the statement said. The commissions in charge of the temporary takeover and use of property can no longer give the property of Croatian citizens whose address is known to other persons to use it. There is a possibility of giving abandoned property for temporary use if the address of its owner is unknown. In that case the property can be used until the owner claims it back. Klaric stressed that the Constitutional Court had also annulled a provision which stipulated that a person temporarily using property which was to be returned to its original owner could not be dispossessed of it until he was provided other accommodation. The statement included detailed instructions to the owners of property which was currently being used by other people how they could exercise their rights. The owners who live in Croatia, whose address is known and whose houses have not been occupied by September 26, can move in without anyone's consent as no one can deny them the right, the statement said. (hina) vm jn 012128 MET oct 97